ST. LAWRENCE, DEACON & MARTYR - 2023

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
anyone who follows me will have the light of life. JN 8:12bc

2 CORINTHIANS 9:6-10 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

You O Lord, are Jehovah Jirah, our Provider. You show us how we ought to give. You teach us the type of giving that pleases You as You point to the widow who put two copper coins in the treasury, giving out of her poverty all that she had to live on.  From You flows an immeasurable abundance of all we need for our temporal and spiritual welfare and when we give with an open hand and a generous heart we can trust You to supply all our needs. 

You also desire that we give joyfully not out of compulsion or fear for as St. Paul reminds us, God loves a cheerful giver. It is in the measure that we give that we will receive. A stingy offering will receive a stingy return. But if we give without counting the cost we can be certain that You, O Lord, who cannot be outdone in generosity, will pour into our laps, and our hearts, every grace and blessing pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing. 

PSALM 111(112):1-2,5-9 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

May we always remember that we are only stewards of all that You have entrusted to us whether they be spiritual or temporal goods. We have a moral duty to share our faith, to share our food, to share our money. If we meet anyone who lacks something that we have then we are duty-bound to meet their need for we will be called to give an account of our stewardship.

The psalmist reminds us that God delights in those who give with open hands and generous hearts. You will not only bless the giver but You will bless the entire household. May our hearts never be cold and unfeeling to those who come to us for aid even if be something as simple as a smile and a kind word. 

The psalmist assures those who are generous will fear nothing, their hearts are at peace for they have put all their trust in God.

JOHN 12:24-26 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Every day in every way we are invited to die to ourselves, to our selfish desires, our concupiscence, our hankering for the things that give momentary pleasure but leave a bitter aftertaste in our soul. 

You, the Living God, Eternal Word of the Creator, only Son of the Father, in perfect humility and obedience to the Father's will, came into the world to restore what our first parents had lost through pride and disobedience. You who are eternally God came to redeem what had been destroyed. You came into the world and became like us in all things but sin. You were subject to all things that we are subject to, hunger, thirst, loneliness, suffering, and pain. You came to take our death on Yourself so we could enter into Your eternal life and joy and share in the love of God restoring the love and friendship that our first parents enjoyed with Him. 

Grant us this grace O Lord to die to the quick retort that wounds, the selfishness that shrivels the heart, the uncharitable and ungenerous thoughts that render us cold and unfeeling. May we be sensitive to the gentle movements of grace that we experience through the promptings of the Holy Spirit and act on it always until it becomes second nature to us. 

Let us not be just hearers of the Word but doers of the Word so that everyone we encounter will be touched with the same grace that we have received. The Way to the Kingdom of Heaven is full of contradictions and paradoxes and it is these that encourage us to carry our cross daily and take upon ourselves Your yoke and Your burden which our the two great commandments to love God with our whole being and our neighbor as ourselves. Then we will indeed find the yoke and the burden light and easy.